Good morning,
A: “I’m thinking about buying a live-aboard narrow boat.”
B: “Really? It looks really small and crammed.”
A: “It’s not that small. Probably not much smaller than the average one-bed flat in London.”
B:”No way.”
Recently, I’ve had this conversation with a few of my mates – most recently, this Wednesday. The recurring incredulity in everyone’s response to my size comparison as a justification for purchase, got to me in the end and I decided to look for some solid numbers to back up my claim – and to be helpful just in case you’re also considering this option as your main home.
According to this article, the size of average one-bedroom flat in typical new build development is 500 sq ft – the article also features a website that sells ‘pocket-sized’ mini-flats whose size averages 400 sq ft (I’m in no way affiliated with this enterprise but they look pretty good. And if they offered money, I would not reject it, just to be clear).
I couldn’t find a similar article for studio flats, but I did some ‘original’ research by browsing through various studio flats’ floor plans on Zoopla, the average of which was circa 300 sq ft.
A decent live-aboard narrow barge would be 60 ft long and 6ft wide, making the average floor area a cool 360 sq ft (or take off 15% for the engine room etc., you still end up with 306 sq ft.).
In conclusion, I was right; in terms of floor area, the following is true:
- London Studio < Narrow boat < Average UK 1-bed flat
Have a good Friday, preferably on a boat.
PPFF 